OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to validate the Chinese version of the Summated Xerostomia Inventory (SXI). METHODS: The English SXI was translated into Chinese, cross-cultural adaptation and pilot tested. The final Chinese version of SXI was tested in a consecutive sample of 212 patients with xerostomia. The reliability ...

We have investigated how diabetes affects the expression of adropin (ADR) in rat brain, cerebellum, kidneys, heart, liver, and pancreas tissues. The rats in the diabetic group were administered an intraperitoneal (i.p.) injection of a single dose of 60 mg/kg streptozotocin (STZ) dissolved in a 0.1 M phosphate-citrate buffer (pH 4.5). The ...

Adults with autism experience significant impairments in social and non-social information processing for which few treatments have been developed. This study conducted an 18-month uncontrolled trial of Cognitive Enhancement Therapy (CET), a comprehensive cognitive rehabilitation intervention, in 14 verbal adults with autism spectrum disorder to investigate its feasibility, acceptability, and ...

Many jurisdictions around the globe have well-developed regulatory frameworks for the derivation and implementation of water quality guidelines (WQGs) or their equivalent (e.g. environmental quality standards, criteria, objectives or limits). However, a great many more still do not have such frameworks and are looking to introduce practical methods to manage ...

In light of the adverse reports of Bisphenol A (BPA) on reproduction and considering the pivotal role played by the steroid receptors (SRs) and their coregulators in male reproduction, it was of interest to decipher the influence that BPA may have on their expression pattern during critical 'windows' of development. ...

The authors report two cases of pseudomesotheliomatous lung cancer (PLC) detected by (18)F-FDG PET/CT scan. (18)F-FDG PET/CT clearly revealed the extent of the disease in both cases, a case of adenocarcinoma of the lung and a case of squamous cell carcinoma of the lung. Intense (18)F-FDG uptake by the diffusely ...

SUMMARY: Despite progress in the understanding of leukemia pathophysiology, the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) remains challenging. In patients with refractory or relapsed (R/R) AML, the prognosis is still poor and this group is targeted for new drug development. We reviewed the outcome of 47 patients, with R/R AML ...

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a complex inherited disease which affects many organs, including the pancreas and liver, gastrointestinal tract and reproductive system, sweat glands and, particularly, the respiratory system. Pseudomonas aeruginosa is the main cause of chronic airway infection. In order to reduce morbidity and mortality due to lung infection ...

Few studies have been carried out in the same area at different times, allowing an assessment of the incidence of epilepsy (E.), including all ages, over time. The available data on temporal trend show a decrease in E. incidence in childhood and an increase in the elderly. We sought to ...

Mitogen- and stress-activated protein kinase (MSK) 1 is an important regulator of immune response and mitogenic signaling. In this study, we report for the first time that MSK1 was activated by the osteoclast differentiation factor receptor activator of nuclear factor kappa B ligand (RANKL) in osteoclast precursor cells. Inhibition of ...

Various surgical techniques have been proposed for the repair of supravalvular pulmonary stenosis (SVPS) in pediatric populations. Whereas growth potential should be promised, excessive expansion under the presence of undiminished high pulmonary arterial pressure should be avoided. The authors applied all-autologous three-sinus repair, the so-called modified Brom or Myers technique, ...

An automated flow-through multi-mycotoxin immunoassay using the stand-alone Munich Chip Reader 3 platform and reusable biochips was developed and evaluated. This technology combines a unique microarray, prepared by covalent immobilization of target analytes or derivatives on diamino-poly(ethylene glycol) functionalized glass slides, with a dedicated chemiluminescence readout by a CCD camera. ...

Objective Pilot investigation to establish the knowledge, use and education needs of general dental practitioners (GDPs) of the UK yellow card (YC) reporting scheme.Design Postal survey.Main outcome measures GDP views and experiences.Results Of 130 respondents, 74.6% were aware of the scheme. There was greater awareness of the scheme among those ...

We used network-based diffusion analysis to reveal the cultural spread of a naturally occurring foraging innovation, lobtail feeding, through a population of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) over a period of 27 years. Support for models with a social transmission component was 6 to 23 orders of magnitude greater than for ...

The DFT-B3LYP/6-311++G(3df,2p) and MP2(full)/6-311++G(3df,2p) calculations were carried out on the binary complex formed by HM (M = Li, Na, K) and HF or the π-electron donor (C2H2, C2H4, C6H6), as well as the ternary system FH∙∙∙HM∙∙∙C2H2/C2H4/C6H6. The cooperativity effect between the dihydrogen-bonding and H-M∙∙∙π interactions was investigated. The result shows that the ...

BACKGROUND: Indirect cost is an important component in economic evaluations. The variation in the magnitude of indirect costs across studies and countries is substantial and affects the transferability of results across jurisdictions. OBJECTIVE: This study explored the factors involved in the variation of reported indirect cost and investigated the feasibility ...

PURPOSE: Wide-field surgical excision reduces the chance of residual disease, but can also lead to disfigurement and devastating morbidities when resection is close to critical structures. We hypothesize that near-infrared fluorescence (NIRF) imaging can enable accurate detection of tumor margins for image-guided resection. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: An orthotopic model of human ...

Iterative image reconstruction with the total-variation (TV) constraint has become an active research area in recent years, especially in x-ray CT and MRI. Based on Green's one-step-late algorithm, this paper develops a transmission noise weighted iterative algorithm with a TV prior. This paper compares the reconstructions from this iterative TV ...

Abstract We evaluated the predictive value of [(18)F] FDG-PET for clinical outcome such as progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) in patients with relapsed or refractory DLBCL prior to and after ASCT. (18)F-FDG PET/CT was performed in 39 consecutive relapsed/refractory DLBCL patients scheduled for ASCT. The median follow-up of ...

Effective and safe drug administration in neonates should be based on integrated knowledge on the evolving physiological characteristics of the infant who will receive the drug and the pharmacokinetics (PK) and pharmacodynamics (PD) of a given drug. Consequently, clinical pharmacology in neonates is as dynamic and diverse as the neonates ...

Calcite, aragonite, and vaterite are the three anhydrous polymorphs of calcium carbonate, in order of decreasing thermodynamic stability. Although vaterite is not commonly found in geological settings, it is an important precursor in several carbonate-forming systems and can be found in biological settings. Because of difficulties in obtaining large, pure, ...

Different life-cycle stages of Trypanosoma brucei are characterized by stage-specific glycoprotein coats. GPEET procyclin, the major surface protein of early procyclic (insect midgut) forms, is transcribed in the nucleolus by RNA polymerase I as part of a polycistronic precursor that is processed to monocistronic mRNAs. In culture, when differentiation to ...

Ecological and conservation genetics require sampling of organisms in the wild. Appropriate preservation of the collected samples, usually by cryostorage, is key to the quality of the genetic data obtained. Nevertheless, cryopreservation in the field to ensure RNA and DNA stability is not always possible. We compared several nucleic acid ...

The last few years have witnessed significant advancements in arthroplasty. The procedure is mainly used to treat osteoarthritis of the hip and knee joint. Other joints such as the shoulder or ankle are also being successfully replaced by arthroplasty. The success of the operation depends on the implantation technique as ...

Atrial fibrillation (AF) often occurs in the presence of an underlying disease. These underlying diseases cause atrial remodelling, which make the atria more susceptible to AF. Stretch is an important mediator in the remodelling process. The aim of this study was to develop an atrial cell culture model mimicking remodelling ...

Studies have shown that the expression of CD133, leucine-rich-repeat-containing G-protein-coupled receptor 5 (Lgr5), and ATP binding cassette (ABC)G2 proteins is associated with malignancy and poor prognosis in colon cancer. However, molecular regulation mechanism of the three proteins has not been elucidated. Here, we report that microRNA-142-3p (miR-142-3p) inhibits the expression ...

Copper metal nanoparticles were used as a reducing agent to reduce graphene oxide (GO). The reaction was complete in about 10 min and did not involve the use of any toxic reagents or acids that are typically used in the reduction of GO by Zn and Fe powders. The high reduction ...

OBJECTIVES: The aims of the study were to identify correlates of objectively measured physical activity and to determine whether the explanatory power of the correlates differed with sex, weight status or level of education. METHODS: Physical activity was assessed objectively in 3,867 participants, aged 20-85 years, for a consecutive 7 days using ...

The aim of this work was to evaluate the potential anti-inflammatory activity of eleven (5-15) new synthesized derivatives of benzo-thieno[3,2-d]pyrimidine on two cell models, namely human keratinocytes NCTC 2544 and mouse monocyte-macrophages J774. For the synthesis of test compounds an efficient approach was developed: the key isothiocyanate was prepared through ...

Posttranslational modification of the neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM) by polysialic acid (polySia) is well studied in the nervous system and described as a dynamic modulator of plastic processes like precursor cell migration, axon fasciculation, and synaptic plasticity. Here, we describe a novel function of polysialylated NCAM (polySia-NCAM) in innate ...

Planning, predicting, reasoning, and acting often depend crucially on the correct encoding and application of knowledge concerning the temporal and causal ordering of events. Yet no pictorial stimulus set is optimized for investigating the processing of temporal and causal order information. We introduce a novel stimulus set of 265 black-and-white ...

Different views on the origin of deficits in action chaining in autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have been posited, ranging from functional impairments in action planning to internal models supporting motor control. Thirty-one children and adolescents with ASD and twenty-nine matched controls participated in a two-choice reach-to-grasp paradigm wherein participants received ...

An efficient synthesis of 2,7-dibromo- and diiodo-pyrene(4,5,8,19)-tetraones led to strong donors and acceptors based on pyrene. They are versatile building blocks for conjugated materials and can be further applied in molecular electronics.

Microbially synthesized fatty acids are an attractive platform for producing renewable alternatives to petrochemically derived transportation fuels and oleochemicals. Free fatty acids (FFA) are a direct precursor to many high-value compounds that can be made via biochemical and ex vivo catalytic pathways. To be competitive with current petrochemicals, flux through ...

BACKGROUND: Complete resection is critical for local control of primary bone sarcomas. Intraoperative consultation, including frozen section of bone marrow margins, frequently is used to aid in this goal. QUESTIONS/PURPOSES: We therefore sought to determine (1) how often intraoperative frozen section of a bone marrow margin correlates with inspection of ...

AIMS: To assess human adenoviruses (HAdVs) removal in an advanced wastewater treatment facility and compare two parallel tertiary treatment methods for the removal of HAdVs. METHODS AND RESULTS: Tangential flow ultrafiltration (UF) was used to concentrate the water samples and HAdVs were precipitated by polyethylene glycol. HAdVs were detected only ...

BACKGROUND: The ARTEMIS trial compared first-line antiretroviral therapy (ART) with lopinavir/ritonavir (LPV/r) to darunavir plus ritonavir (DRV + RTV) for HIV-1-infected subjects. In order to fully assess the implications of this study, economic modelling extrapolating over a longer term is required. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to simulate the course ...

OBJECTIVES: To identify the meteorological drivers of dengue vector density and determine high- and low-risk transmission zones for dengue prevention and control in Cairns, Australia. METHODS: Weekly adult female Ae. aegypti data were obtained from 79 double sticky ovitraps (SOs) located in Cairns for the period September 2007-May 2012. Maximum temperature, ...

BACKGROUND: Errors are to be expected in health care. Adverse events occur in around 10% of surgical patients and may be even more common in emergency surgery. There is little formal teaching on surgical error in surgical education and training programmes despite their frequency. METHODS: This paper reviews surgical error ...

Abstract Objective: The goal of this study is to compare the prevalence and clinical outcomes of a one-step with a two-step screening method, both of which are commonly used for diagnosis of GDM. Methods: Women who presented for GDM screening and who consented to participate in this study were randomized ...

Few lethal pathogens in wild-living primates have been described, and little is known about infectious diseases of the reproductive tract and their possible impact on health and reproduction. This report describes the pathology and isolation of an alpha-toxin producing strain of Clostridium septicum in a case of necrotizing endometritis in ...

Acinetobacter baumannii is an important cause of postneurosurgical meningitis. The emergence of carbapenem-resistant strains in this setting has caused a therapeutic challenge. We investigated the clinical implications of postneurosurgical meningitis caused by carbapenem-resistant A. baumannii. In this study, we retrospectively reviewed the medical records of patients more than 16 years ...

Rhizoma Dioscoreae Nipponicae (RDN) is a widely used traditional Chinese herb, which is used to treat arthroncus, arthrodynia and arthritis. As is known to us, inflammatory mechanisms have played an important role in the occurrence, course and prognosis of gouty arthritis (GA). The aim of this study was to determine ...